Dear Readers:
Welcome to the March issue of the IAHPC Newsletter. We have several announcements:
1. IAHPC Recognition Awards: We are pleased to announce that the Selection Committees have chosen the following as winners of the IAHPC 2004 Awards:
a. Institutional Category winner: Programa Argentino de Medicina Paliativa - Fundacion FEMEBA (Argentina)
The Programa Argentino de Medicina Paliativa is under the direction of Dr. Roberto Wenk and was established in 1983. The program FEMEBA is divided into three care centers: Hospital Tornu in Buenos Aires , Hospital Sommer in the outskirts of the city and a Home Care program in San Nicolas. The Hospital Tornu and Sommer provide inpatient and outpatient care, and all three provide home care to patients who are able to stay at home. The mission of the Program is to provide good quality palliative care, provide professional education and work in research in clinical, nursing and psychological issues. Three different multidisciplinary groups provide care to patients of low socioeconomic status by subsidizing medications and other costs. With the hard work of the professionals who work at FEMEBA who have committed themselves to palliative care and under the leadership of Dr. Wenk, the program has become a role model for the rest of the country and Latin America .
b. Vittorio Ventafridda Award (Individual) winner:David Joranson, MSW (USA)
Mr. Joranson received a Master of Science in Social Work, with a concentration in Social Policy, from the University of Wisconsin in Madison . He is Senior Scientist and Director of the Pain & Policy Studies Group (PPSG) at the University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Policy and Communications in Cancer Care. Formerly, Mr. Joranson administered state drug regulatory policy in the USA , and co-founded national associations for state controlled substances agencies and state initiatives to improve cancer pain relief and address regulatory barriers. Mr. Joranson has contributed to the study and modernization of narcotics control and professional practice policies to improve pain patient access to opioid analgesics in the United States , Europe , Latin America and Asia in cooperation with national projects in China , Colombia , India , Italy , Mexico and Romania . He has advised the US Institute of Medicine’s global heath program, the World Health Organization cancer program and the International Narcotics Control Board. Joranson is a member of the International Association for the Study of Pain and participates in its Developing Country Task Force; he is also a life member of the Indian Association for the Study of Pain and has received a humanitarian award for enhancing compassionate care of addicts and pain patients, as well as awards for distinguished public service. He is author of numerous book chapters and peer-reviewed articles about national and international pain policy and addressing regulatory barriers.
c. University Award winner: University of Bristol ( UK )
The University of Bristol was founded in 1876 and it has become one of the most popular and successful universities in the UK . It currently has more than 14,000 fulltime students. The Department of Palliative Medicine was established in 1993 under the leadership of Professor Geoffrey Hanks. The goals of the program are to develop education and research in palliative medicine and provide clinical care at the University Teaching Hospital with a Palliative medicine curriculum closely linked with communication skills and ethical issues. Palliative Medicine is represented, or taught, in every year of the five year course in Bristol . Teaching is directed by Dr. Karen Forbes, who was recently elected as the Clinical Tutor of the Year during 2001, 2002 and 2003 by the university medical students. The University also provides a Master of Science in Palliative Medicine for medical students who wish to earn a Palliative Medicine Diploma. In addition, several of the modules are open to students of other disciplines who wish to participate and learn about certain specific topics.
Congratulations to all for these well deserved awards and for their outstanding job and effort in improving palliative care around the World. Many thanks to the Committee members who worked hard at selecting the winners from a large number of applications. Additional information and photos of the 2004 winners are available in our website at http://www.hospicecare.com/Awards/awardsindex.htm
2. Strategic Plan: Five years ago, under the leadership of our past Chair, Eduardo Bruera, the Board developed a strategic plan for the organization to set our goals and serve as our road map for the past years. It is now time to work on a Strategic Plan for the next five years. Two weeks ago we sent an email inviting our members to give us their suggestions via an electronic form. Many thanks to those who sent replies and suggestions. These will be taken into consideration in the development of the new plan. If you didn't receive the invitation and wish to participate, please click on the following link: https://www.hospicecare.com/survey/plan.htm Remember we will consider only suggestions made by members, so if you are not a member, we invite you to join IAHPC and help us help others. To Join Click Here
3. Grant to IAHPC: Last month, we received a grant from the Joy McCann Foundation to support the IAHPC Faculty Development Program. The grant is a prize given to our Chair, Kathy Foley, who was selected as a McCann Scholar for 2004. Thanks to this grant, we will be able to support three additional faculty positions in universities in developing countries. We are extremely grateful to the McCann Foundation and to our Chair for their generous grant to our organization.
4. Global Summit of the National and Palliative Care Associations On March 15 and 16th, IAHPC will participate in a meeting, organized by Help the Hospices (HTH) in UK under the leadership of Nick Pahl. We are proud to be sponsoring Dr Eduardo Garcia Yanneo from Uruguay as a Traveling Scholar to this Summit and be able to collaborate with Help the Hospices in this effort. Many thanks to HTH for their invitation to participate and we send congratulations for organizing this important meeting.
5. Traveling Scholarships Grant: We are glad to announce that we have now some funds available to support students in India who are interested in attending the palliative care six-week course at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences. Those interested, please contact Dr. MR Rajagopal for information on dates and how to apply: [email protected]
6. Dignity and Culture: The IAHPC has partnered with the Manitoba Palliative Care Research Group to help with the dissemination of a survey to identify the influence of religion, ethnicity and culture in provision of palliative care. As a starting point, it will be necessary to identify and designate palliative care researchers willing to take a lead role in their region or country, or to help us facilitate the identification of such an individual(s). Once selected, the group will decide issues related to the design, and feasibility of the project. We invite you to participate in this survey by clicking on http://www.hospicecare.com/survey/dignity.htm
7. Clearing House Program- Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine : We are glad to announce that Oxford University Press has donated more than 1,000 copies of the second edition of Palliative Medicine (edited by Derek Doyle, Geoffrey Hanks and Neil MacDonald) to the IAHPC Clearing House Program. The books are now being delivered to more than 60 countries, so in a few months many of you will receive a copy. It is our hope that this publication will be available on all the shelves and libraries of palliative care units, hospitals and care providers in the developing world. Those who are familiar with it know that the Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine is considered the most important and comprehensive palliative care publication in the field. Many thanks to our President Emeritus, Dr. Derek Doyle for his help in this process and to Catherine Barnes, at Oxford University Press for this important and significant donation.
8. IAHPC Website: Last month we hit a record of more than 1,000 visitors per day at our website. The number of hits per day is now above 5,000 as we continue to provide an open and free space for those who need the information. We owe thanks to Bob Child for the success of the IAHPC website and his belief that the Internet would become a global phenomenon. We also appreciate the hard work and website design of Anne Laidlaw, our webmaster, and her wonderful team at Alou Web Design.
Many thanks again to all those who have joined IAHPC and continue to support our efforts. We look forward to your comments and participation.
Until next month,
Kathy Foley, MD
Chair, Board of Directors
Liliana De Lima, MHA
Executive Director |
